Shawn All Grown Up
by Kristen3
Summary: Shawn isn't the same kid in high school anymore. He's now an adult, running his own company. But an angry employee tries to let him know that he can't run from his past. Maybe he can't run from it, but he can certainly learn from it. One-shot. Rating is for language.


**Author's Note: **I never expected to write a second story completely focused on Shawn. But this idea of writing him as an adult, and thinking of where he might be now, sort of came out of nowhere. It wouldn't go away, so I had no choice but to do it. As usual, this could've been a chapter story, but I prefer to keep things short and to the point. So, anyway, I hope people like this. :)

Sometimes Shawn Hunter still couldn't believe he was here. The kid who'd grown up in a trailer park was now the head of an entire company. Hunter and Associates. After leaving Philadelphia ten years ago and settling in New York, along with Cory, Topanga and Eric, Shawn had gotten a job at an ad agency. He remembered how much he'd loved his work-study assignment back in high school. Just as before, a combination of luck and hard work moved him up the corporate ladder. Sure, occasionally, he had made a shady deal or two to get an account, but he figured that was just a sign that old habits die hard. For the most part, he'd gotten to where he was now through his own efforts.

Often, when he arrived at work, and saw his name on his office door, he had to stop for a moment. He could still remember his school years, when he'd been a complete screw-up. If it hadn't been for Cory and the Matthews family, not to mention Mr. Feeny, there was no telling where Shawn might've ended up. He never forgot to thank God for everyone who'd believed in him even when he didn't believe in himself.

But today, he shoved those thoughts aside. He had a busy day, but that was true every day. His agency had gotten a slew of new clients, and it was his job to assign each client to a specific employee. Because Shawn was young, and had made his way up so quickly, there were more than a few disgruntled employees. But it didn't bother him; Shawn Hunter was certainly no stranger to being disliked. He was still close friends with Cory. They saw each other as often as schedules allowed. So Shawn really had no need to make friends at work, when he already knew he'd never make a better friend than Cory Matthews.

He sat at his desk, and turned on his laptop. Every day brought new challenges, and often, he had to think on his feet to solve a client's problem. But Shawn didn't mind. Before he could even respond to an email he'd gotten from a new client, the door to his office burst open. In walked Zack, a new ad designer at Hunter and Associates. He was fresh out of art school, and very full of himself. But, usually, did as he was asked.

"What's the matter with you, Hunter?"

Shawn looked up from his computer in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

Zack scoffed. "You know what. You assigned me that toothpaste account. What gives? I didn't go to school and take this job so I could sell _toothpaste_!"

Shawn let out a frustrated sigh. He had an involuntary flashback to high school, and all of the times he'd complained to Feeny about his assignments. "All the other designers here already have all the clients they can handle. You happened to be free. So, you're selling toothpaste. End of story."

"Can't I, like, switch with somebody?"

"What's the big deal? Everybody likes healthy teeth. It's not like I'm asking you to sell burial plots or something!"

"I didn't want to make this personal, but I guess I've got no choice," Zack said. "I've done some research on you. It's amazing what a person can learn from a simple Google search."

Shawn tried not to show it, but he flinched inside. What information did this guy have? "So?" he asked, trying to appear much more confident than he felt.

"So, I know that all of this is fake. Deep down, you're just a kid from a trailer park. Your own dad left when you were in high school. I bet you were a hell of a son!"

The insult to his father's memory stung. He stood up. "Hey, don't talk about my family like that. It's true, I didn't grow up in a very good home. We didn't have a lot of money. But I had people who believed in me. This didn't all just happen overnight. I had a teacher in high school who told me I could go to college, as long as I put my mind to it. I thought he was crazy, but that fall, I enrolled at Pennbrook. It wasn't easy, especially since I suddenly found a half-brother I hardly knew, and then my dad died out of nowhere. I might've dropped out of college and taken some dead-end job somewhere, but I had a friend who wouldn't let me. His wife is one of the smartest people I know, and she got an internship here in New York. I thought I would be lost without my best friend, but then they invited me to come here with them. I started working at the lowest-level job in an ad agency, but I worked my butt off. _That's_ how I got here."

Zack hardly knew what to say. He'd read a bit about Shawn's background, but never heard the whole story in Shawn's own words. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't know..."

"Yeah, well, next time you think you know a person, don't be so quick to assume. Now, I suggest you go get working on that toothpaste ad, unless you'd rather be unemployed. The choice is yours." A part of Shawn wanted to just fire this idiot on the spot, but he'd been given more than a few second chances.

"OK, but next time, can I, maybe, get something a little cooler? Like a sportscar or something?"

"Let's see how you do on the toothpaste ad, and maybe we'll talk."

Zack swallowed hard. The last thing he wanted to do was work on this assignment. He had thought Shawn gave him the job just to be a jerk. Just give the lamest account to the new guy. He'd thought that bringing up the past might scare his boss into changing his mind. But he had to admit, he admired the fact that Shawn hadn't backed down. "I'll do my best." With that, Zack slowly backed out of the office. This conversation hadn't gone the way he'd expected at all, but it was a lesson he wouldn't soon forget.

It took a few minutes before Shawn's mind could clear enough that he could remember what he'd been doing before Zack's outburst. He'd never really thought of it this way before, but running this office was not unlike what Mr. Feeny had dealt with as principal of John Adams. Shawn cringed as he remembered how he'd made the poor man's job more difficult on more than a few occasions.

Not so long ago, an insult such as the one Zack had throw at him would have easily led to a fistfight. But, now, Shawn Hunter had managed to keep his cool and handle the situation like an adult. He smiled as he thought of his dad. Wherever Chet Hunter was right now, Shawn had a feeling he was very proud. And, more importantly, Shawn was proud of himself.

**The End**


End file.
